Harryhausen FX - How were they regarded by audiences of the day?

I know this was 30 years prior to Jason And The Argonauts, but I saw a documentary on King Kong and apparently audiences originally bought the stop motion effects. In fact the first film ever made and exhibited, a short clip of a train coming into a station, caused panic in theatres because the audience thought the train was literally going to smash through the screen.

Just as today, Ray Harryhausen was then considered to be amazing.

When I first saw it at age six or seven it just rocked my world. But, hey, I liked the original _King Kong_ a lot too. I never thought there were any laughs to be got out of the big sword fight with the skeleton army myself. I never found it anything but intense and even brutal. The first thing I saw to even come close to it was the final running fight in the tomb in _The Mummy_(1999), after all the ammunition had run out, and the hero had to fall back on cold steel, or lukewarm bronze, or orichalcum, or whatever.

Ozy

And I stood where I did be; for there was no more use to run; And again I lookt with my hope gone.

Just watched again, and must say, even in these days of CGI, Haryhausen's FX were something else! When 1 of the Harpies grabs Phineas's clothing and unwraps him is awesome! OK, I know you can see strings, and that if you watch carefully you can see that the effects are on a different plane to the sets and actors, to make an effect interact like that, to roll him then fly off with his clothing was genius.

Ah, hell diddly-ding-dong crap!

The effects were awsome in 1963 and they remain awesome today. The people I knew found the effects work more magical than audiences find contemporary work since this was state of the art when the art was less used. I think the final sequence in this film remains the best "special effects" sequence ever to be released in a film.

Oh Lord, you gave them eyes but they cannot see...

I was about 11 years old when I saw this at the drive-in then later in the downtown theater. NO ONE laughed at any serious moments. NO ONE laughed at the shriek of the skeletons! That I'm certain of! I'm not sure why they laughed in that one theater, as reported, but I don't know of anyone who saw this~child, teen or adult~who didn't find it astonishing. At that time, we didn't know about stop-motion work since that information wasn't readily available. Even my father, a film buff who taught me so much about movies, wasn't certain how these creatures were brought to life, not even "King Kong" (1933). (We even speculated that there was a man in a "Talos suit".) It would be later in the Sixties, when we were living in a city instead of a very small town, that we came across issues of "Famous Monsters of Filmland", which taught us more about the makings of these films. Then, I joined a movie book club and became an even more serious student of moviedom.

I still remember seeing "J&TA" on that enormous drive-in screen and being totally captivated by it. I already loved mythology, so this was especially fascinating to me~though I realized they didn't have Medea quite right (no murdered kid brother, for example). But, I could forgive that. And the music... *sigh* At that time, I thought I'd never see it again.

Throughout the next several decades, I ended up watching this movie every chance I had, and I am absolutely certain that I am past the 200-times mark. I still watch my videotaped copy; I have the CED (remember those machines?)(Mine isn't hooked up now.); I watch it every time it's on TCM (if it's at a time my mother isn't around, as she doesn't hold quite the enthusiasm as I do for it); and I even found it on YouTube.

I just wish that TCM had reversed showings tonight: first "J&TA" then "Clash". I hope I won't be too tired to watch it though I suppose I can forgive myself for missing a 2:45 a.m. showing.

~~MystMoonstruck~~
~~MystMoonstruck~~

I just saw this for the first time. As a cinema enthusiast one must admire the work and craftmanship put into these effects. Compare that to the rather flat and impersonal CGI we sometimes get shoved down our throats these days and I have made my choice.

"What If" is a game for scholars.
Timothy Dalton, The Lion in Winter (1968)

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